Marzia Julianos
The daughter of August Julianos, and the first female Exarch of Hazur. History Childhood As the only daughter of August Julianos, the family was expected to fall apart as little where expected of females in Hazur at this time. She had a relatively normal childhood, though her father taught her everything he would've taught a son, including how to wield a sword and bow and how to lead. Telling his daughter that she could fight down any enemy, and outmaneuver them, she showed from young age a confidence unseen except among the leaders of Hazur. Becoming essential in her father's court, several voices raised their voices in question at the sudden importance of a female in court. Marzia was often heard to coldly point out how it was weird she had more balls than most of the men at court who could barely defend themselves both in combat and in the politics of the city. She was often at edge with the Favaro family for their archaic views on females. The War of Bears and Cats At the death of her father under suspicious circumstances several of the families allied to the Julianos rose up in rebellion against its new female leader under the leadership of the Favaro family. The guardsmen of the family was in no doubt where their loyalty was however, and supported their new female leader and rose up to defend her. She was heavily outnumbered by the opposing families in the massive inner city war with the exception of the Cappocia family who supported her. Marzia Julianos personally led her men into battle and pushed their way into the mansion of the De Oliviero family. Cutting off the head of the leader of the resurgents, the De Oliviero family head, she threw it into the city street and yelled at the opposing guards in defiance. Forcing the eldest child of the De Oliviero family to step up as the new leader of the family and support her with the De Oliviero family retinue she had just fought, she took the new female family head hostage as she attacked the Cisco family mansion. At the same time the De Oliviero retinue were sent to fight Pellecchia and Scinta soldiers. Forcing the Cisco to bow their heads aswell, she finally pushed the battle to the Favaro mansion itself. As she and her soldiers kicked down the doors of the mansion, the Favaro family pleaded for a peace negotiation. She coldly told them losers in a war have no say in any negotiations. Grabbing the family head by the neck, she dragged him out to the streets and asked for a sword to be given him. Dueling every single adult male in the family, she told the females left that they were forbidden to matrilineally marry into new families and to keep the Favaro line going, and that the Favaro name has been forbidden in the city. Though she didn't massacre the whole family like her grandson would end up doing to the Oneto family some decades later, she effectively destroyed it. The very short civil war later known as "The War of Bears and Cats" was ended less than a day after it had started. It was the start of a long and infamous rule by the young plutocrat. Shortly thereafter, she wed one of the sons of the Cappocia family by the name of Ubertino Cappocia, that she had secretly been meeting even before the war started. The New Exarch With the death of her father, the seat of the Exarch was up for grabs, and Marzia took it by both hands and without the Expansion faction's opposition managed to do so safely. With the Expansion faction almost completely out of the picture and the Trade Council, Marzia quickly set into effect several rulings increasing the power of the Exarch and reducing the power of the Trade Council, by forcing the Domination families to do her bidding, and the Control faction unable to stop her. After an assassination attempt by the Cecchetti family to stop her growing power, she made an example to any would be assailant what would happen to a family who tried to murder her. With several older males and females set up as perpetrators, they were publicly executed as traitors to the city, and several others of the family were imprisoned under the suspicion of taking part in the crime. Most of them died in prison after rotting there for months. A young girl was put up as the new family head of the Cecchetti family. Seeing the problems she had with the male view on female leadership, she put through several new laws banning both agnatic and enatic inheritage, and forced cognatic inheritage upon all the richer families in Hazur. Though of course there was no families having an enatic inheritage in the city, and it was in all practicality a move to stop males from inheriting titles and land instead of more fitting females. With the new female friendly laws, there was a massive influx of female patricians as their older family heads died. Though a small uproar by the older male patricians happened at times, they were shut down by the female patricians. It was clear they were there to stay. Marzia gave birth to a son she named Silvano. The Pirate Threat After all but missing for months, the Expansion families were back en masse and on their knees infront of the Trade Council asking for help. A massive pirate threat had appeared, and though the families of the Expansion faction had tried stopping them themselves, they had proven to be little match for the pirates. The Control faction voted in the negative at this new pirate threat, and said it was nothing more than a problem for the Expansion families and their expansions northwards. Chastising the Control faction for their shortsightedness at the importance the Expansion faction's trade in the city of Hazur, she forced through the vote to help them out. Gathering a massive army together, Marzia revived the title of Commander Supreme yet again, and took it as she had decided to lead the troops herself. Leaving behind Ubertino as the regent of the city together with her young son. Quickly striking several of closest pirate nests which was located on the island of Tharsult to the north east of Hazur, she managed to get the pirates on a defensive. Before the information could be leaked, she had completely decimated the pirates at Tharsult, and forced the rest of them to obey and become one of her marines, or to be hanged. The choice was a simple one for most of them, and she bolstered the army after the losses it had taken to beat the pirates. The Bloodied Admiral Most people expected her to stop after making an example of the pirates of Tharsult, but she sent her fleet to the north west to the northern part of the Jungles of Chult and they wiped out nest after nest of pirates as she got information on them. Giving bags of gold to anyone who could give them information leading to the death or capture of pirates, they managed to track down every single pirate hideout in the area. The rumours started going between the pirates left behind even further north, at the island of Lantan, about the insane admiral of Hazur. Only some weeks afterwards, they were assaulted by the very same admiral as she attacked the hideouts at Lantan aswell. After several months of stikes against the pirates, finally ending as she ripped the pirates out of the Nelanther Isles, she disbanded the massive fleet she had gathered together. Most of the fleets and ships made specially for this mission were picked up by the Expansion faction and was employed in the creation of an even larger trade network in the wake of the pirates. Deforestation With the massive vacuum left behind by the pirates, Marzia saw the opportunity for expansion in the Shining Sea and the Sea of Swords. Starting a massive program to create as many ships and sailors as possible, she started what would end up as the deforestation of Hazur. Creating several dozens of boats, it started taking an even larger toll on the island of Hazur as suddenly the large forests were gone. With the forests gone, a larger number of farms started popping up around the island, creating small villages which hadn't been there before. The problem of having to import food to sustain the population of Hazur was somewhat reduced as the farms started producing a lot of food. The Exarch Though the seat of Exarch is considered an elective position, in many ways Marzia was the first real heir of Domitian Belus as she took the seat for herself almost like a monarch. She lived a long life, and not once did she lose the seat to any other family. Her youth had been one of change and problems, and the rest of her life as the Exarch was docile in comparison as she took control over the city and took well care of it. She signed several treaties with other nations that secured the trade network of Hazur. Importance Unlike many of the Exarch's who never truly put their mark on the city, Marzia is the one who by far ended up changing the city the most since the days of Domitian Belus. She played an essential role in changes the position of women in the Hazurian society at large, and the halls of the Trade Council who had been all but male was changed into one of both sexes. Even after her death, when the ban on agnatic and enatic heritage was removed from the laws of Hazur, and a new elective way of doing things was done by some families, the females still played an essential role in politics and were as often picked as men, if not more. The large trade network of Hazur who had already played an important role in the last years, where expanded upon to encompass all of the Shining Sea and the Sea of Swords. Whereas the city of Hazur had been rich before, it now reached new heights of importance. She was also important in the creation of several trade ports. Personality Already from a young age she was a confident lady who never strayed from the path that led to the goals she wanted. In many ways being the very definition of what it means to be from the Julianos family, she took complete control and dominated the city of Hazur. Though she played an essential role in promoting females in the leading roles in Hazur, she never actually cared much for it. She didn't see any huge advantage of women in the government in and of itself. However, knowing that more females would mean less opposition to herself for being female, she pushed through several reforms and changes for the sake of making her own political life easier. Though she was a monarch in many ways, and had taken complete control over the city of Hazur, she was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, and cared deeply for her family. Even if she did lead a stressful life where she was often forced to be away from it for several months at a time, it was obvious to all how much she missed and cared about those left behind. Those closest to her often spoke of the two sides of Marzia, the Monarch and the Mother. Once when Marzia heard this, she made a joke about those roles being practically the same thing. She had a special relationship with her grandson August II Julianos, and often told him stories from her own youth unntil the day she died. Many cites her as source of his motivation, and not his father Silvano. Read More * Hazur - City * Julianos - Family * Domination - Faction * August Julianos - Father * Rosita Constantini - Mother * Ubertino Cappocia - Husband * Silvano Julianos - Son